The season was 1957-58, the coach was Vince Boryla, and the stars of the run-and-gun Knicks of yesteryear were Willie Naulls, Ken Sears, Richie Guerin and Carl Braun.

That was 50 years ago, and the last time a Knicks team finished the season as the NBA leader in scoring – racking up a magical 112.1 points per game, though the team’s high-water mark came in the 1959-60 season when they averaged 117.3. Yes, the Knicks’ tradition has been defense more than offensive fireworks.

Despite last night’s 104-87 loss to the Bucks, coach Mike D’Antoni’s go-go Knicks are among the league leaders in scoring, at a more modest 103.8 points.

Whether they can keep that pace after yesterday’s roster overhaul robbed them of leading scorers Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph remains to be seen. But the similarities were evident. That 1957-58 club, too, was the start of a new era following the Joe Lapchick reign.

“There was a lot of change,” Naulls told The Post from his home in Houston. “We had just gotten rid of Dick McGuire, Sweetwater Clifton and Harry Gallatin. We were younger and we were running more.”

The ’57-58 quartet found themselves among the top 15 in scoring average that season. Naulls, a four-time All-Star, averaged 18.1 points. Guerin, who has been on the Hall-of-Fame ballot in recent years and was coming out of the military for that season, averaged 16.5 points and five assists. Sears, an outside-shooting big man, led the club at 18.6, fourth in the league. Braun averaged 16.1 points.

For all the scoring, the Knicks finished 36-38, last in the Eastern Division.

We ran more as opposed to their old give-and-go offense,” said Naulls, 74, who authored two books and was a successful real-estate entrepreneur in Los Angeles. “But it was not more successful. There was a lot more scoring, we were a lot more exciting but it wasn’t indicated by the won-loss record.”

The NBA had eight teams back then, and the Knicks played most of their home games at the old Garden on 49th street and Eighth Avenue, a handful at the 69th Street Regiment Armory. They averaged 11,256 at the Garden but Naulls could remember crowds above 17,000 for some of the old Garden games.

“I thought the fans of New York were supportive of us even while we were losing,” said Naulls, a UCLA product who played his last three seasons in Boston, winning three titles. “We’d be on a losing streak and we’d still see a full house. It kind of shocked me. The West Coast didn’t have crowds like that back then.”

Boryla was fired after the 1957-58 season for Fuzzy Levane, who guided the Knicks to a 40-32 record and a playoff berth with the same corps. Naulls still follows the Knicks closely.

“They’re the team I emphasize the most,” Naulls said. “I hope the new coach turns the team around. It will be an adjustment with these players. They need a [Steve] Nash and [Amare] Stoudemire. You get the right combination of players, you can play any style you want.”